Toy having magnetically actuatable appendage



Nov. 19, 1968 D. L. CROSMAN 3,411,237

TOY HAVING MAGNETICALLY ACTUATABLE APPENDAGE Filed Nov 5. 1966 4Sheets-Sheet l DoPLAM/b 620x444 BY W! 46 ATTORNEYS Nov. 19, 1968 0.1..CROSMAN 3,411,237

TOY HAVING MAGNETICALLY ACTUATABLE APPENDAGE Filed Nov 3, 1966 4Sheets-sheaf 2 INVENTOR: 9026 .0 4. ceaswmv BY g 1 3 7ATTORNEY$ v Nov.19, 1968 D. CROSMAN 3,411,237

TOY HAVING MAGNETICALLY ACTUATABLE APPENDAGE Filed Nov. 5, 1966 4Sheets-Sheet 3 A Z3 ffig 79/ Q 47 E l3 4 I 59 43 9 INVENTOR.

002444/0 4. QOSMAM BY g a g zTTORNEYS Nov. 19, 1968 D. 1.. CROSMAN3,411,237

TOY HAVING MAGNETIQALLY ACTUATABLE APPENDAGE Filed Nov. 3, 1966 4Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR:

BY- W & rwda,

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,411,237 TOY HAVING MAGNETICALLYACTUATABLE APPENDAGE Dorland L. Crosman, Glen Ridge, N..I., assignor toDe Luxe Topper Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 3,1966, Ser. No. 591,847 11 Claims. (Cl. 46239) This invention relates toanimated toys in which there is at least one appendage movable withrespect to a body, and has particular reference to an improved mechanismfor controlling the movements of such an appendage.

The invention will be described and illustrated in connection with ahuman-like doll provided with movable arms, but many phases of theinvention are applicable to a wide variety of animated toys, such as toyanimals.

A general object of the invention is to provide an appendage-movingmechanism, for placement within the body of the toy, capable of beingactuated by a magnetic field. It is contemplated that the actuatingmagnetic field be produced by a control magnet of a size which can beeasily held in a childs hand. Thus, by holding the control magnet nearan appropriate point of the toy body, the mechanism can be actuatedcausing the appendage to move.

It is, therefore, another object of the invention to provide a toy inwhich an appendage can be moved without touching the toy. I

It is a further object of the invention to provide a mechanism of thetype mentioned capable of being actuated with equal efficacy regardlessof the orientation of the toy.

It is an additional object of the invention to provide a mechanismpowered by a spring for moving the appendage of a toy, e.g. the arms ofa doll, which accomplishes the result without the usual snap actionassociated with spring actuated functions.

It is still another object of the invention to provide such a mechanismincluding a magnetically-operated latching means for controlling theoperation of the mechanism by the force of a spring, and in which thelatching means is extremely sensitive despite the relatively largespring force employed.

The improved mechanism comprises, in brief, a shaft rotatably mounted inthe toy body and carrying an appendage at one, or each, end. A springfor constantly urging the shaft to rotate in one direction is connectedbetween.- a stationary point within the body and an eccentric point on adrive gear mounted on and rotatable with the shaft. For the purpose ofslowing down the springinduced rotation of the shaft, and to serve aspart of the latch mechanism, a train of reduction gearing is coupled tothe drive gear. The last member of the train is a trigger wheel having asingle tooth. When the appendage is moved manually to a cocked position,the tooth on the trigger wheel is engaged by a pawl carried by apivotally mounted lever. A magnet is mounted on one arm of the leverwith one of its poles facing an adjacent wall of the toy body. When theopposite pole of a control magnet is brought close to the body wall andopposite to the magnet within the body, the attraction between themagnets causes the lever to pivot whereupon the pawl releases the toothof the trigger wheel, and the spring is permitted to rotate the drive aswell as the remainder of the gearing. Rotation of the drive gear causesrotation of the shaft and movement of the appendage.

Additional features of the invention include the follow- Mounting of aweight on the opposite arm of the lever to balance the lever about itspivot axis so that the lever is unaffected by the force of gravityregardless of the orientation of the toy;

3,411,237 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 Providing a cam surface on the drivegear and a cooperating follower on the lever to keep the pawl out ofengagement with the trigger wheel tooth except when the shaft is movedto its cocked position;

Providing a member of magnetic material near the lever magnet toconstantly attract the magnet and thereby keep the follower in lightcontact with the cam surface and the pawl poised to engage the triggerwheel tooth; and

Providing cooperable abutment means on the lever and toy body to limitthe movement of the lever and thereby prevent the lever magnet frommoving too far from the magnetic member to insure continuous magneticattraction between the two regardless of the orientation of the toy.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description in which reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a doll according to the inventionshowing the arms holding an object at the waist level of the dolls body;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the doll showing the arms in an elevatedposition wherein the object has been brought to the dolls mouth;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the doll bodyshowing the actuating mechanism which controls the motion of the dollsarms;

FIG. 4 is a section taken along line 44 of FIG. 3, showing the mechanismof the doll when the arms are in their cocked position of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 after the mechanism has been actuatedby a control magnet and the arms have moved to their released positionof FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a section taken along line 66 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a section taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a section taken along line 88 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a section taken along line 99 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a section taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 11 is an exploded view of the mechanism of FIGS. 3-10.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a doll according to the inventionconstructed from a relatively rigid material, such as a suitableplastic. The doll has a hollow body portion 11 to which legs 15 and 16are pivotally mounted at one end. A pair of arms 12 and 13 are mountedat the shoulder region of body 11 in such a manner as to move along thelength of the body. The dolls head 14-is pivotably mounted to the top ofthe body 11 at its neck portion. Held between the hands of the doll, inthe present example, is a nursing bottle 10 which has a nipple directedtoward the dolls mouth. When a control magnet 17 is brought close to thechest area of the doll body 11, a mechanism within the hollow portion ofbody 11 is actuated to cause both arms 12 and 13 to move togetherupwardly and bring the nipple of body 10 into engagement with the dollsmouth, as shown in FIG. 2.

The mechanism forming a part of this invention and responsive to thecontrol magnet 17 is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 3-11. Referring toFIG. 3 the actuating mechanism, shown house-d within body 11, has a maindrive shaft 31 the ends of which extend through holes 20 in the dollbody. Drive shaft 31 is preferably of rectangular cross section and itsends fit non-rotatably into slots in sleeves 71 and 72. Rotation ofshaft 31 therefore simultaneously rotates sleeves 71 and 72. Sleeves 71and 72 are non-rotatably joined to the upper ends of their respectivearms 12 and 13 so as to rotate the arms with the shaft 31. Therefore,arms 12 and 13 will move at the same time upward toward the dolls mouthwhen the mechanism is in operation. Arms 12 and 13 contain annulargrooves 73 which fit into the circular openings 20 at the shoulders ofbody L11 to permit free rotation of the arms.

The actuating mechanism is contained in a U-shaped bracket 24 secured bysuitable mounting studs to the inner face of the back side of the body11. The construction of the actuating mechanism within U-shaped bracket24 may be best described with reference to FIG. 11. In FIG. 11 maindrive shaft 31 is shown broken in two sections for illustration purposesand supports drive gear 28 and idler gear 53. Gear 28 contains an axialhub 47 having a rectangular opening 58 to receive rectangular driveshaft 31. Consequently, the drive gear 28 and shaft 31 rotate together.Drive gear 28 contains gear teeth 33 disposed along approximately A ofits circumference. Adjacent to one end of teeth 33 a recessed surface isformed havng end detents 34 and 44, the latter of which lies adjacent toteeth 33. Mounted adjacent to the other end of teeth 33 and adjacent tothe periphery of drive gear 28 is a cam surface 75. The end of the camsurface 75 farthest from the gear teeth 33 is bent over to form anintumed portion 41. The portion of the hub 47 extending to the left ofthe gear 28 (FIGS. 3 and 9) serves as a spacer maintaining the gear 28 afixed distance from the adjacent side 79 of bracket 24.

An idler gear 53 is also supported by drive shaft 31 and rotates freelyaround shaft 31 which passes through the hole 54 in the gear 53.Intermediate the idler gear 53 and drive gear 28 is a pinion gear 35formed as an integral part of idler gear 53. A spacer sleeve 59 is alsoinserted over shaft 31 to maintain gear 53 a fixed distance from theadjacent side 78 of bracket 24.

Shaft 31, supporting drive gear 28, idler gear 53 and spacer 59, isjournaled in holes 43 in the sides of bracket 24. Drive gear 28 is ofsuflicient diameter to rotate in close proximity to the back wall 80 ofbracket 24. The back wall has formed in it an abutment 32 projecting outtoward the gear 28 and adapted to fit into the recessed portion betweendetents 34 and 44. Abutment 32 thus restricts the rotation of wheel 28 tthe arc defined by the detents 34 and 44. The rotation of wheel 28 is ofcourse confined to an angular excursion of less than the arc occupied bygear teeth 33. The left side of hub 47 maintains the gear 28 in verticalalignment with abutment 32 by its contact with the side 79 of bracket24. Spacer '59 is of sufficient length to maintain drive gear 28, gear53, and the sides 78 and 79 of bracket 24 in a fixed spacedrelationship.

The drive mechanism further includes a counter shaft 40 below shaft 31for supporting a spur gear 30 and a trigger wheel 38. Spur gear 30 has apinion 29 and a spacer 55 integrally formed with it. A hole 56 passingthrough gear 30, pinion 29 and spacer 55 freely accommodates shaft 40,so that the gear and pinion are rotatable on the shaft. Mounted adjacentto spur gear 30 and also rotatable on shaft 40 is the trigger wheel 38.Trigger wheel 38 has a pinion 36 integral with it. In addition, it isformed with a cam surface 39 having a single tooth 52. Counter shaft 40is supported in holes 45 in the sides 78 and 79 of bracket 24. When thegears and shafts are assembled (see FIGS. 3-10), pinion 29 engages gearteeth 33 of drive gear 28, gear 30 engages pinion 35, and spur gear 53meshes with pinion 36.

The mechanism is also provided with a lever 18 pivotably mounted onshaft 27 which passes through hole 51 in the lever. Mounted on the upperarm 82 of the lever, by means of a rivet 22 is a disk-shaped magnet 21.Each circular face of the magnet is one pole, i.e., the magnetic axisextends perpendicular to the plane of the disk. The opposite arms 83 oflever 18 is provided with a counterweight 19, of such weight and sopositioned that the center of gravity of the lever 18 lies along itsaxis of rotation, i.e., the shaft 29. The upper arm 82 of the lever 18is also provided with a laterally-projecting pin 50 which extends into ahole 49 in the side 78 of bracket 24.

The lever 18 is mounted on bracket 24 by passing shaft 27 through holes70 in bracket 24 and hole 51 in the lever. Pin 50 is also inserted intohole 49 to restrict the rotation of the lever to a few degrees oftravel. The lateral arms 84 projecting from lever 18 are sufiicientlywide to occupy the entire space between the sides f bracket 24. Betweenthe pin 50 and upper arm 82, the lever 18 carries a pawl 60 verticallyaligned with the cam surface 39 of trigger wheel 38. The uppermost armof actuator 18 also includes a second pin 81 directed inwardly andpositioned to ride on cam surface 75 of drive gear 28.

Part of the lower portion of the back wall of bracket 24 is notched toproduce a tab 42 used to secure one end of a drive spring 23. Theopposite end of spring 23 is secured to a stud 48 on drive wheel 28.Spring 23 is sized so that it is held in a stretched conditionthroughout the movement of drive wheel 28 as defined by detents 34 and44 in conjunction with abutment 32. All of the moving parts of the drivemechanism are preferably constructed from non-magnetic material, such asplastic or aluminum, so that they do not have any influence on themagnetic field produced by magnet 21. A small shaft 77 of iron or othermagnetic material is mounted on bracket 24 to lie immediately behindmagnet 21 so that a small force of attraction will be produced betweenthe magnet and shaft 77 to bias the pin 81 of lever 18 against the camsurface 75 of drive gear 28 (see FIG. 5). The ends of shaft 77 fit intoholes 76 in the sides of bracket 24, and the portion of the shaftadjacent to the sides 78 and 79 are crimped (FIGS. 3, 8 and 9) to keepthe shaft in place.

The entire assembly, enclosed in bracket 24, is mounted against the backwall of body 11 of the toy doll by fastening it to bosses 25 and 26(FIGS. 4, 5, and 8-10) by means of screws 84 (FIGS. 8-10). The bossesare formed integrally with the back wall of the doll body. The locationand length of bosses 25 and 26 are designed to position bracket 24 sothat shaft 31 is in axial alignment with the holes 20 in the body 11.

The actuating mechanism of the toy doll according to the inventionoperates as follows: The arms of the doll are initially moved down tothe dolls waist causing shaft 31 to rotate drive gear 28 clockwise inFIG. 4. The attraction of magnet 21 on the upper arm 82 of lever 18toward shaft 77 provides a biasing force to urge pin 81 against camsurface 75 as the arms are moved downward. When the arms have reachedthe waist position of the dolls body, drive wheel 28 has rotatedsufficiently to permit detent 44 to engage abutment 32 as shown in FIGS.4 and 9. Cam surface 75, which maintains lever 18 in the position shownin FIG. 5, has now moved clockwise sufficiently to permit portion 41 topass under pin 81 and thereby allow lever 18 to pivot counter-clockwisein FIG. 4. This rotation of lever 18 moves pawl 60 against trigger wheelcam surface 39 as the trigger wheel rotates counter-clockwise at a speedmultiplied by the gear ratio of spur gears 30 and 58 and theirassociated pinion gears. After abutment 34 engages stop 44 of drive gear28, arms 12 and 13 of the doll are then released and spring 23 coupledto drive gear 28 at lug 48 urges the drive gear to rotatecounter-clockwise. Drive gear 28, whose teeth 33 engage pinion 29, urgesspur gear 30 to rotate clockwise. Gear 30, engaging pinion 35, urgesidler gear 53 to rotate counter-clockwise. Idler gear 53 meshing withpinion 36, as shown in FIG. 6, causes trigger Wheel 38 to rotate at amultiplied speed in a clockwise direction. As camming surface 39 rotatesclockwise, tooth 52 on its surface moves around and engages pawl 60 asshown in FIG. 7. This immediately halts the upward movement of arms 12and 13 under the influence of spring 23. The halting of the upwardmovement of the arms occurs after only a few degrees of rotation ofdrive gear 28 due to the high gear ratio between the drive gear andtrigger wheel 38. Thus, a single rotation of trigger wheel 38,sufficient to engage pawl 60, will permit a maximum of only a fewdegrees of rotation of wheel 28. The stopping of wheel 28 occurs beforeportion 41 can engage pin 81 so that there is no contact between thedrive wheel and the lever. Pawl 60 is maintained in engagement withcatch l-obe 52 by the attraction of magnet 21 to shaft 77. The drivemechanism is held in a locked position for any orientation of the dollsbody since the counterweight 19 on the lever maintains the center ofgravity of the lever along its axis 51, whereby the lever is insensitiveto the force of gravity. The coun-,

terweight 19 also minimizes the danger of the lever being moved as aresult of shocks or jarring which may be experienced by the doll.Moreover, the positive force exerted by tooth 52 against pawl 60 isgreatly reduced due to the transmission of the force of spring 23through the gear reduction train. Thus, although a relatively strongspring 23 is employed, the latching engagement between pawl 60 and tooth52 is relatively sensitive. Thus, when an external permanent magnet 17,having a polarity at its forward end opposite to the polarity of theoutwardly facing surface of magnet 21, approaches the dolls chest, onlya small force produced by the attraction of the two magnets is necessaryto overcome the biasing force of shaft 77 on the lever and dislodge pawl60 from catch 52. The attraction of magnet 17 to the magnet 21 causeslever 18 to pivot clockwise, as shown in FIG. 5. Pin 81 in turn movesoutwardly away from surface 75 to permit step 41 to pass clear of thepin so that the drive wheel will rotate counter-clockwise to raise arms12 and 13 toward the dolls mouth. During the upward movement of thedolls arms, cam surface 75 in sliding contact with pin 81 maintains thelever in the position of FIG. 5 so that pawl 60 does not engage cammingsurface 39 of trigger Wheel 38 during rotation. When abutment 32 engagesdetent 34 of the drive gear, the cycle of operation of the dollsactuating mechanism is complete. To reset the mechanism in readiness foranother cycle, it is only necessary to move the dolls arms downwardtoward its Waist.

From the above description it is apparent that only a very small forceis required from the interaction of external magnet 17 and magnet 21 totrip the latching mechanism so as to permit the spring 23 to cause thedolls arms to move upward toward its mouth. With the actuating mechanismof the type described, one need only approach with the external magnetto within an inch or two of the chest of the doll before the magneticforce becomes sufiicient to trip the latch mechanism. It should bepointed out that if the magnet 21 has a strong enough field, anunmagnetized piece of iron, or other suitable material, may be used toactuate the mechanism in place of the control magnet 17. Such a piece ofiron would, of course, have to be larger than the shaft 77 to overcomethe attractionforce between the magnet 21 and shaft 77.

While'only a single embodiment of the present invention has been shownand described, it will be understood that many changes and modificationsmay be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an animated toy:

a hollow body provided with an opening,

a shaft within said body and terminating at one end near said opening,said shaft being mounted for rota-tion about its longitudinal axis,

an appendage having an end provided with means for connecting it to theend of said shaft for animation by rotative movement of the latter,

spring means within said body constantly urging said shaft to rotate inone direction toward a released position,

means for preventing shaft rotation in the spring-urged direction beyondthe released position, said shaft being rotatable in the oppositedirection toward a cocked position by activation of said appendage, and

a releasable latch mechanism within said body for retaining said shaftin the cocked position, said latch mechanism including a magnetresponsive to a magnetic field outside said body for actuating the latchand permitting said spring means to rotate said shaft to its releasedposition.

2. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 1, wherein saidlatch mechanism includes'a trigger wheel mounted to rotate along withsaid shaft, said trigger wheel having a radially projecting tooth, apivotally mounted pawl adapted to engage said tooth when said shaft isin its cocked position and prevent rotation of said trigger wheel andhence said shaft, said pawl being operatively connected to said magnet,and means for maintaining said pawl out of engagement with said toothwhen said shaft is not in its cocked position.

3. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 2 including adrive gear mounted on and rotatable with said shaft, said spring meansbeing connected between an eccentric point on said drive gear and apoint fixed with respect to said body, and a gear train coupled to saiddrive gear, said gear train including said trigger wheel.

4. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 3 wherein saidmeans for preventing shaft rotation includes a detent carried by saiddrive gear and an abutment fixed with respect to said body in the pathof travel of said detent.

5. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 2 wherein saidlatch mechanism further includes a pivotally mounted lever, said pawlbeing carried by said lever, and said magnet being mounted on saidlever, the magnetic axis of said magnet being substantiallyperpendicular to the pivot axis of said lever.

6. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 5 wherein saidlever has a pair of arms extending in opposite directions from its pivotaxis, one of said arms carrying said magnet, and including acounterweight mounted on the other lever arm to render said leverperfectly balanced about its pivot axis.

7. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 3 wherein saidlatch mechanism includes a pivotal- 1y mounted lever, said pawl beingcarried by said lever, and said means for maintaining said pawl out ofengagement with said tooth includes a cam surface carried by said drivegear, and a follower carried by said lever.

8. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 7 includingmeans for maintaining said follower in light contact with said camsurface.

9. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 8 wherein saidmagnet is mounted on said lever, and said means for maintaining saidfollower in contact with said cam surface is a magnetic member locatedbetween said lever and said cam surface, said member serving toconstantly attract said magnet.

10. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 9 includingmeans for limiting the pivotal movement of said lever in the directionwhich separates said cam surface and follower to insure the continuityof magnetic attraction between said magnet and magnetic memberregardless of the orientation of said toy.

11. In an animated toy, the arrangement defined in claim 10 wherein saidlimiting means includes a detent carried by said lever, and an abutmentfixed with respect to said body in the path of movement of said detent.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,942,377 6/1960 Beebe 46-1193,053,008 9/1962 Pelunis 46-1 19 3,287,847 11/1966 Gardel et a1. 46-119X LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examini.

1. IN AN ANIMATED TOY: A HOLLOW BODY PROVIDED WITH AN OPENING, A SHAFTWITHIN SAID BODY AND TERMINATING AT ONE END NEAR SAID OPENING, SAIDSHAFT BEING MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT ITS LONGITUDINAL AXIS, ANAPPENDAGE HAVING AN END PROVIDED WITH MEANS FOR CONNECTING IT TO THE ENDOF SAID SHAFT FOR ANIMATION BY ROTATIVE MOVEMENT OF THE LATTER. SPRINGMEANS WITHIN SAID BODY CONSTANTLY URGING SAID SHAFT TO ROTATE IN ONEDIRECTION TOWARD A RELEASED POSITION,